Law-And-Lobbying Firm Of Ritter And Cafero Sparks More Controversy

May 03, 2014|Jon Lender, Government Watch

When House Minority Leader Lawrence Cafero, R-Norwalk, argued strenuously last Tuesday against a bill requiring increased financial disclosures by for-profit nursing homes, he took the same position as a lobbying firm hired by the Connecticut Association of Health Care Facilities to fight the measure.

The debate on the bill was one of the year's longest — seven hours — and the House finally approved it 86 to 57, with seven Democrats and all Republicans against it.

It's now awaiting Senate action — but, in a way, the House debate isn't over.

That's because two days after Tuesday's vote, a labor union chief made an issue of the fact that Cafero is a lawyer for Brown Rudnick, the law-and-lobbying firm that the health care facilities group hired to try to kill the bill.

David Pickus, president of SEIU 1199 New England — which represents thousands of nursing home workers — questioned how Cafero could be "an outspoken critic of this when the firm that he draws a salary from was being paid to be against it." And he called it "disingenuous" of Cafero not to "let the public know that his firm was being paid by the association" by announcing it during the House debate.

Cafero responded that his employment situation is a matter of public record and there's no point for him — or for other lawmakers whose jobs relate to a subject under debate — to keep making such statements. Cafero said he's strictly an attorney at Brown Rudnick — and that the lobbying end of the firm is separate from the law practice that he's a part of. He noted that he's consulted the Office of State Ethics in the past, adding that there's no violation of law or conflict of interest — a statement that ethics officials confirmed.

"I knew from the beginning when I joined the firm … that there would be situations where they happened to represent a client that has business before this [House]," Cafero said. "I have gone to [the Office of State] Ethics for years and said, 'what are my limitations?'" The office has been "very clear" in saying he's properly separated from any conflict, said Cafero, who is not seeking re-election this year after more than two decades in the House.

"I vote the way I vote, whether it's for or against any particular client that … the lobbying arm of my law firm happens to represent," Cafero said.

"Here's the irony of ironies," Cafero said. "Just before this bill [on Tuesday], there was another bill that I had problems with" — a bill to require school districts to address chronic absenteeism — and "I spoke on it and got it [shelved, without any House action]. I found out subsequent to that that it was a bill of a client of my firm — that they wanted the bill."

Cafero said "I had to laugh" — except he wasn't laughing when he said it — at Pickus' claim that he'd been "disingenuous" when, in reality, he said it's the union that is disguising its motives in pushing the bill.

"This entire bill was called an act for 'transparency' with regard to nursing homes," Cafero said. But "it is no secret — no secret in this building — that the primary purpose for this bill was for the use of unions" to obtain heretofore-unavailable financial information about nursing homes and the businesses they deal with such as pharmacies, therapy firms and even laundries.

Cafero said unions could use that information — which the homes would be required to turn over to the state, and which would become public information from state files — "to persuade [the nursing homes] to become unionized, or … in contract negotiations."

Democratic supporters of the bill said some of bill's requirements for increased disclosure stemmed from problems in recent year at two large nursing home chains that operated Connecticut nursing homes and went into bankruptcy.

Republicans said the homes already have to submit 40-page annual disclosures with financial details that are checked by independent auditors, all as part of the state's determination of their funding rates.

Cafero and other Republicans said the Democratic administration of Gov. Dannel P. Malloy and his social services commissioner had opposed similar proposals in recent years, but now are supporting this bill when they need the union's help for Malloy's re-election.

Meanwhile, Matthew V. Barrett, executive vice president of the Connecticut Association of Health Care Facilities, said Friday that his group added Brown Rudnick to its existing team of two paid lobbyists in March because of pressing issues — including state budget matters and the nursing-home disclosure bill. Brown Rudnick was chosen not because of any ties with Cafero, but because, Barrett said, he's familiar with the expertise of one of its lobbyists, Tracy Persico, in this area.